Hey everyone,

Split bushings.

Shocked to see I need 4 x control arms at $250 a piece. Bit of insanity to spend $1700 on a job like this. Need the whole bar as well.

A tech suggested I can get aftermarket bushings and take the car to someone with the tooling to fit new bushings.

Can someone recommend a quality aftermarket bushing so that I hopefully never have to do this again?

Are there alternatives to rubber out there?

Thanks!

 

You may find something here.

 

If the bushings are split why don't you just replace the bushings... I really don't see a scenario where you actually need 4 new upper control arms.

The Upper Control Arm bushings total of 4 for the front and back. Which I had quoted and done at $265 for the front and $265 for the back and $169 for a 4 wheel alignment.

Leaving me with a total of $753. The bushings are the same as used in the A4. I recommend buying the parts from an OEM site, and having just about any mechanic who knows what they are doing, and with a press and you will have it done. At the time I couldn't find the part number for the OEM bushings, let alone the aftermarket ones. If you do find some please let us know, as I said before the bushings really don't hold up for very long or very well. I wasn't as knowledgeable at it as I am now. I probably could have had the bushings installed for much cheaper than what I paid. Also alignments should never be more than $110.

 

And for the DIY'er, Harbor Freight has presses for $150 when not on sale and a nice assortment of dies for $40.

 

Actually all you need is a bit bigger vise. Exact die would be nice but some garage junk can be just as fine. Being handy includes not having all factory tools.

 

Guys,

I'm in the middle of this project right now and can tell you that the upper control arm bushings are about $25 or less a piece. Go to your local hardware/big box retailer and buy some threaded rod (3/8") with a couple of nuts and washers, visit the plumbing section and find a couple of pvc fittings that match up to the bushings and you've got a home made press! It'll cost about $5-6 for all the pieces. You want one pvc fitting to match the exact diameter of the exterior edge of the new bushing and the other piece to be slightly larger than the control arm opening for the bushing. You're basically going to suck the smaller piece into the larger piece through the control arm as you tighten the nuts. It'll make more sense once you get it all assembled.

Pressing in the bushings with this set-up is slow. I put the new bushings in the freezer prior to install and it helped a little. You just need to make sure the bushing starts going in the control arm flush or you'll need to restart the process.

Getting the old bushings out wasn't that bad. A chisel on the edge of the bushing and repeated blows of the hammer crushed one side of the bushing into the center and allowed me to punch it out. My bushings were totally torn free so the center metal sleeve just pushed out leaving me with this option. Be careful removing the bushing as the control arms are a soft aluminum and any marks inside the opening will create problems with installing the new bushings.

The other option is finding a machine shop to press the old bushings out and new ones in. The last time I had a shop do it was a couple of years ago and I think $20 each was the going rate here in Atlanta.

It probably took me 30 minutes for each bushing from pounding out the old to pressing in the new. When you consider that the closest machine shop to me is 45 minutes away, dropping it off and then going back to pick it up, I think I came out way ahead. Sometimes it's about saving a buck and other times it's just easier with my schedule to work on it a little at a time when I can. A shop with a press would spend probably 20 minutes doing all 4 control arms and most of that time would be on the first one because of matching up the appropriate size sockets.

Good luck!

 

I did what benpit did. Expect a little dirt and blood but it works! Youtube has many videos showing bushing removal/installation.

 

I also am in need of new control arm bushings. I live in SE Michigan and the car has 156k miles on them. I got it serviced with new brake pads and rotors and told them that my car is very bumpy, vibrates over rough pavements on highway speeds and is not very planted. The quote is 760 total for parts and labor to replace all 4 control arm bushings after they inspected my suspension. I believe that is a decent price. I read somewhere that Brozee also replaced all 4 of his bushings which transformed his car to a smoother and more planted ride with no vibration or rough ride.

 

Yes, I also live in SE michigan too, where are you at?

I had it done at an indy shop for a bit cheaper than you were quoted, but any mechanic can do it as long as they have a press.
It didn't fully change the ride of the car, I mainly had it done because two of mine were split. It did make it a bit smoother and noticeably better when hitting bumps, the car didn't sway as much as it would before.

 

Brozee,

I live in Bloomfield Hills. I got quote from Fred Lavery Audi. However, I do take my cars to Auto Europe in Birmingham for repairs. Which indy shop do you use? My car has 156k on it and it was smooth at the beginning but now I feel every dips, ripples, grooves on smooth roads above 60 mph.